CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Josh Gordon had a football on his fingertips and 70 yards of open field ahead of him.

It was the second offensive play of Thursday night’s game and Browns quarterback Brian Hoyer threw a perfect strike to Gordon, running a deep slant at the Cleveland 30. Just as it appeared the Browns would open with a 90-yard touchdown, the ball and opportunity slipped through Gordon’s hands.

“Should have had the first one for a touchdown, easy,” Gordon said. “When he knocked the ball out, that’s on me, that’s something I’m gonna have to live with. I knew I just couldn’t deal with that. If my team was gonna lose it’s not gonna be on me. I had to come back and prove something to somebody.”

The star receiver atoned for the drop with a juggling 37-yard TD catch from Brandon Weeden in the third quarter of the Browns’ 37-24 win over the Buffalo Bills at FirstEnergy Stadium.

Gordon beat Aaron Williams on a fly route and corralled a ball that the Bills defensive back thought he had defensed. It momentarily popped out of Gordon’s grasp as he crossed the goal line but controlled it before stepping over the end line.

“Aaron Williams, great DB, got his hand on the ball a little bit to knock it up,” Gordon said. “He stayed focused on it and tried to reel it in. I know I had to make a play today and luckily that was the one.”

The touchdown added to his growing resume of big plays. It was his second TD of the season and seventh of his career – all for 20 yards or more. Gordon finished the night with four catches for 86 yards, including an 18-yarder that helped set up a fourth-quarter Billy Cundiff field goal.

Most players try to quickly forget mistakes, but Gordon said he allowed the first-series drop to fester for a few moments.

“ ... I let it resonate in my mind for a minute because I know I just want to go out there and build on top of that,” Gordon said. “If it’s a bad play I gotta go out there and make two or three good plays to make everybody forget about it ... It was definitely something to motivate me.”

Gordon and the Browns overcame more than a few mistakes to win their third straight game. Hoyer was lost to what is feared to be a serious right knee injury.

Weeden, who sprained his right thumb two weeks ago, entered the game in the second series and completed 13-of-24 passes for 197 yards, including the TD pass Gordon.

“Honestly, I think he stepped into it fine,” Gordon said. “(Weeden) played a whole year already. He’s got the season under his belt. He wasn’t expecting anything different from what he had seen last year. If anything I think he had even less pressure on him because of the circumstances.

“But we talked to him, we all talked to him—just relax, settle down, try to get us the ball out quickly as possible, let us try to make a play, quit thinking as much and just let it go.”

A local lounge publicized that Gordon was supposed to host a party at its establishment after the game. Given the receiver’s off-field issues – he served a two-game drug ban to open the season – some wondered if the party was sending the right message.

Asked if the host needed to score a touchdown, Gordon said: “I don’t even believe that’s the case, you know. I think I may just go home and rest up. I’m kind of tired.”

Workhorse Willis: Playing their second game in five days didn’t prevent the Browns from asking 31-year-old Willis McGahee to shoulder a serious workload. He carried 26 times for 72 yards and a touchdown in the victory.

Nothing came easy for the halfback who needed three straight runs from the 1-yardline to score a second-quarter touchdown.

“That ball’s going in the trophy case -- first touchdown with the Cleveland Browns,” said McGahee, who the club signed after trading Trent Richardson on Sept. 18. “The rest we’re not going to worry about.”

He was asked jokingly if it were an effort to hop the short wall in the end zone to celebrate the TD with the Dawg Pound.

“Man, come on now,” he said. “I look at it like this. They tell me I can’t run the ball, I can’t do this, I’m older. At the end of the day, I think my heart is bigger than any running back out here.”

McGahee made one of the most memorable fashion statements of the night, wearing a blue T-shirt, which read: “Really, Really Ridiculously Good Looking.”

“I would tell you the name (of the vintage store) but I don’t want people knowing where I get my shirts from,” he said.

Lauvao returns: Guard Shawn Lauvao made his season debut after missing the first four games and most of training camp with a high ankle sprain. He replaced Oniel Cousins.

“It felt good,” Lauvao said. “You’re going to get rusty. I’ve been out two months. But I’m happy coach put his trust in me and let me get my start. It felt good to be out there with the guys.”

It’s tricky: For the second straight week, the Browns defense was beaten on a trick play and flagged for pass interference. On the Bills’ first drive, receiver T.J. Graham took a pitch from E.J. Manuel on a second-and-8 from the Browns’ 30 and threw deep to Stevie Johnson locked in man coverage with Joe Haden. Officials ruled Haden interfered with Johnson’s ability to catch ball in the end zone.

Fred Jackson scored on the ensuing play, a 1-yard run.

Manuel sidelined: Hoyer wasn’t the only starting quarterback knocked from Thursday’s game. Manuel suffered a sprained knee in the third quarter as he was hit low by Browns safety Tashaun Gipson at the end of a 14-yard scramble.

“I saw him working out on the sideline (and) thought we probably could get him back, Marrone said. “And then they shut him down and said, 'Hey, listen. We're not going to put him back in there.' We're going to take a good look at it when we get back to Buffalo.’’’

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